Straddling the Hudson River. One foot in NYC, the other in suburban New Jersey.

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Take that hideous thing outside

I was going to apologize for this being a “lazy” post because it’s mainly photos but then I remembered that photography is a legitimate art form. So I withdraw the apology that I have not offered. If you’ll allow me a moment of bloated egoism, I think some of these pics are fetching.

Winter approaches and it’s time to bid adieu to outdoor art exhibits. I love the monstrosities that some artists create and I’ll miss them. Here are the last two works until spring.

Our old pal Jeff Koons will be selling another balloon animal at Christie’s fall contemporary art auction. This time, it’s Balloon Monkey (Orange), estimated to sell for $20,000,000-$30,000,000.

It doesn’t look much like a monkey at all, whereas his balloon dogs look like…well…dogs.

Before each auction, they hold free previews in the gallery. If a show of that caliber opened at MoMA, the line would stretch down 54th Street to 5th Avenue. I don’t understand why more people don’t take advantage.

This isn’t the first Koons sculpture to appear in front of Christie’s Rockefeller Center location. A while back, there was a balloon dog and some tulips.

Admiring the art deco frieze.

Selfie!

I like the reactions. Tourists and New Yorkers alike scrunch their faces into fists of incomprehension. Can you blame them? The real fun starts when they see the auction estimate. I find these pieces tremendous fun but am depressed that someone would (and could) pay that kind of money for something like this. Rich people are certifiably insane. It’s a FACT.

This piece is in the plaza at Lincoln Center. It’s in front of the fountains.

I had to double-up on my pics because the exposures were so different. Due to the inherent limitations of my iPhone, I could only take a picture of the image on the screen OR the plaza, but not both simultaneously. I think each result is equally interesting.

Solar Reserve (Tonopah, Nevada) 2014, by Irish artist John Gerrard, is giant LED wall that re-creates a Nevada solar thermal power plant and the surrounding desert.

The image situates the sun, moon and stars as they would appear at the actual Nevada site over the course of a year. The view slowly morphs from ground to satellite image every 60 minutes. The view is constantly, albeit, very slowly, changing throughout the course of the exhibit. It might be more interesting if they sped up the movement a bit. You don’t see much change just standing there.

Interesting aside: That sign you see at the bottom are LED lights embedded into the steps leading up to the Plaza. There’s a whole series of them. They scroll upcoming Lincoln Center events and the word “welcome” in multiple languages.

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My colleague at work saw The Ramones at Vassar when she was a teenager. I’d pay a significant amount of money to watch The Ramones play in front of an audience of Vassar co-eds. Who wouldn’t?

Koons’ work certainly isn’t practical. I’ll give you that much. Where are you going to put something like that?! It’s ridiculous.

It’s funny…I thought the EXACT SAME THING about leaving them out in the open with just a few security guards milling about looking like they couldn’t care less. And here’s the kicker…this piece will remain outside, 24/7, until the auction in mid-November. What’s to prevent someone from taking a hammer to it?

It is interesting but, to me, not “deep” enough to spend that kind of money on, if I had the money. Too much sameness. The only reason I would see anyone buying such an installment would be as an investment on the assumption that it would appreciate on vaue. I’ve seen metal scuptures that are detailed and eye-catching. If I had the money and the estate i could see myself investing in something like that, something that caught my interest.

ABVFKFKGKGKGKGKDKSKAKEME
That monkey should be a porn star. Speaking of which, wasn’t Koons once married to La Cicciolina? Why isn’t she a work of art worth 30 million bucks? Admittedly she’ll deterioriate more quickly than that monkey, but at least she moves around and says funny stuff.

I now think that the clowns hired to make balloon animals at kids’ birthday parties are a tad underpaid, Mark. 20 to 30 mill for that stuff. Like you, the money part of it takes whatever artistry might be hiding out in the way back away for me.

Those sculptures are wonderful. I first read this post on my phone earlier today because I’m traveling, but I couldn’t see the pics well. Now I’m on my iPad and can see them better. That’s the kind of fun art I enjoy. I suppose I shouldn’t admit that…

I am totally with you on the fun aspect! The fact that it’ll sell north of $20M is kind of obscene but that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s a blast. I’ve always got my guard up against art that is TOO SERIOUS. That’s why I like Warhol. That guy knew how to have a good time and so does Koons.

I want to live inside your posts, the crazy balloon animals and all. By the way, I would totally buy that if I was rich, and then I would likely try to fly it out of a skyscraper, cause drunk and high…

Photographs the lazy way out? Not in my neck of the woods. Some days it’s a flippin’ miracle.
You should be commended.
I know you are something of Anglophile – you may like my latest post which is nothing if not British.

Please let us know who actually buys it. I find it weird. Prices that high are just sort of like astronomy facts to me. Like light years and distant galaxies. I’m not entirely sure it’s real at all, my brain can’t comprehend it.